A fascinating book on a little known subject, 7 April 2004

By	Kurt A. Johnson (Marseilles, IL USA) - See all my reviews

I found this to be an absolutely fascinating book on a little known subject. When reading a biography of Jeffrey Hudson, Queen Henrietta Maria (1609-69) of England's favorite dwarf ("Lord Minimus" by Nick Page), I was surprised to find out that he was captured by Barbary corsairs, while crossing from France to England(!), and spent years as a slave in North Africa. This was far from an isolated event. Indeed, far-off Iceland was subject to corsair slave-raiding.

Now, as the author fully admits, unlike with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the North African slavers did not produce much in the way of documents from which to draw numbers of slaves taken and so forth. As such, Professor Davis did need to draw his conclusions based on limited information, but I did find his conclusions to be well reasoned and quite convincing. Also, he was at pains to point out that these slaving activities went on in both directions, and that it was not a purely Muslim activity.

So, are you interested in reading about a fascinating, and yet little known facet of European and Middle Eastern history? If so, then I highly recommend this book to you. It has a great deal to say, and is already sparking debate across the world. Buy this book!

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